BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Each month, “WBZ Cares” highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community. This month WBZ is profiling Cops for Kids with Cancer, a non-profit organization focused on raising funds to provide assistance to families of children fighting cancer, to improve their quality of life and ease financial burdens so all energies can go to helping their child beat cancer. Since 2002, Cops for Kids with Cancer has been helping families in New England cope with the cancer diagnosis of their child.
Cops for Kids with Cancer is a Boston non-profit that gives gifts of $5,000 dollars to families with a child with cancer to help ease their financial burden.
To raise that money they rely mainly on the hard work, creativity, and kindness of law enforcement like Everett Police Detective Robert Hall.
“So I became involved with Cops for Kids with Cancer in 2009, but actively involved was 2013 – The Boston Marathon. I ran for the charity and since then I’ve been hooked. I think that particular year I raised about $7,500,” Hall stated.
Since then he's run the Boston Marathon each year for the charity. He personally raises about $15,000 dollars a year, on average.
“The feedback I got from my colleagues and the community was beyond, I can’t…I can't put words to it,” Hall said.
He's become an inspiration to others.
“I try to get other people involved. I did it with my daughter this year. It was her first marathon. She's 23 years old, and we will hit $23,000,” Hall said.
And others from his department have also joined in the effort.
“It made me feel really good to see all the people in the community and my department and the other departments help out,” Hall commented.
For volunteers like Detective Hall, the payoff for all their hard work is when they get to hand out the checks.
“The families that I’ve been involved with they’re overwhelmed, they’re appreciative, and they’re very grateful. Quite a sight to see the children’s faces light up. And I've only met a few, but the families that I’ve been involved with I kind of have a special connection with them,” Hall concluded.
WBZ NewsRadio1030's Shari Small Reports